Areolar fascia with and without conchal cartilage in tympanoplasty

ABSTRACT

This retrospective study included 110 patients operated for chronic tympanic membrane perforations in the period between 1998 and 2004. Areolar fascia was used for central [small and medium sized] and posterior perforations [60 patents]. Conchal cartilage was used in conjunction with areolar fascia for large, subtotal and anterior perforations [50 patients]. The surgical success rates for areolar and fascia-cartilage graft groups were 90% and 91.6% respectively. There was significant improvement of air conduction levels after tympanoplasty for both groups. A significant improvement in air bone gap [ABG] was noted at each frequency in both groups. These findings revealed the overall gains of 15.3 dB for the fascia group and 12.6 dB for the cartiIage-fascia group. ABG closure to within 20 dB was encountered in 51 [85%] patients of the fascia group whereas this was achieved in 41[82%] patients of the cartilage-fascia group. Study showed that areolar fascia has comparable success rate to the standard temporalis muscle fascia. The present study has shown that cartilage tympanoplasty did not adversely affect hearing result: